Catalyst virtual exhibition live

I'm delighted to be part of  'Catalyst', a new virtual exhibition showcasing nearly a decade of art-science collaborations from the Environment & Sustainability Institute's Creative Exchange Programme. It's curated by Claire English in partnership with Arts & Culture Exeter, and features new work by Bram Thomas Arnold, The Art and Energy Collective, Sarah Bowler & Elizabeth Masterton, Tim Cockerill, Rosie Fierek, Hugo Glasier, Harper & Chave, Gabrielle Hoad, Josie Purcell, Rame Peninsula Beach Care, Roseberry & Slack, and Chris Thorn.

I'm showing two digital images from a photographic series called The Luminous Envelope. They were made in 2015 shortly after my collaboration with Dr Jonathan Bennie of the ESI and reflect my ongoing interest in scientific/mathematical models (ie simplified representations which are used to facilitate prediction or understanding). Jon and I used both digital climate modelling and practical fieldwork to study microclimates in southwest England to assess the feasibility of growing a banana crop. Our results highlighted the inevitable disconnect between speculative microclimate models and specific day-to-day weather data. The Luminous Envelope responds to a similar disconnect, this time between the ‘purity’ of mathematical equations describing the behaviour of light, and historic attempts to make them tangible through physical model-making.

Visit the exhibition here

Walking Bodies on sale

Walking Bodies published by Triarchy Press contains many fascinating reflections on - and provocations for - contemporary walking arts practice. It includes pigeon steps, a provocation I made in 2019 with Megan Calver, as well as essays by Emma Bush, Hamish Fulton, Sarah Scaife, Cathy Turner and many more. The book was edited by Helen Billinghurst, Claire Hind and Phil Smith, who organised the conference in Plymouth in 2019 from which it derives (and who are also contributors). Buy direct from the publisher: ebook £16.00, paperback £20.00.

Open-up re-opened

Gabrielle Hoad & Megan Calver | Salt-cat (keeps them at home) - detail | 2020

Hestercombe Gardens reopen fully from 5th April and so there's another opportunity to see Salt-cat (keeps them at home), a work I made last year with Megan Calver in response to the pandemic. It's part of Open-Up, a series of outdoor artworks commissioned by Hestercombe Gallery, which features eight artists, many with intimate knowledge of Hestercombe. The show centres on a flagship commission by Richard Long Jackdaw Line. Other artists include Sarah Bennett, Jon England, Jo Lathwood, Philippa Lawrence and Lucy Soni.

Open daily, 10am – 6pm (last entry 4.30pm) until 27th June. Due to current Covid-19 restrictions, all visits must be pre-booked online.

Open-Up: 19th August 2020 - 27th June 2021

Hestercombe Gardens, Cheddon Fitzpaine, Taunton, Somerset TA2 8LG

Catalyst

Gabrielle Hoad | The Luminous Envelope | Digital photograph | 2015

I have some work featured in a new online exhibition Catalyst, due to launch on Earth Day (Thursday 22nd April). It's been organised by Exeter University's Arts & Culture team working with the Environment & Sustainability Institute (ESI) and Cornwall-based curator Claire English. The exhibition reflects on 12 past collaborations between academics from the ESI and artists, and will feature artworks which have been developed by those artists since.

Given that the exhibition is wholly digital, I chose to feature images from The Luminous Envelope, which have been printed in physical form but exist equally happily as pixels on a screen. These photographs were made in response to a collection of 19th century teaching aids held at Oxford University Mathematical Institute. They relate to my ongoing interest in the notion of the scientific model as a simplified representation that assists prediction or understanding. This theme was originally explored during my collaboration Foreign Soil with Dr Jonathan Bennie at the ESI in 2014. 

For Foreign Soil, we undertook a study of microclimates in southwest England to assess the feasibility of growing bananas – now or in a future climate scenario. Our inquiry, which focused on a particular south-facing pasture, included both digital climate modelling and practical fieldwork, and highlighted the inevitable disconnect between speculative microclimate models and specific day-to-day weather data.

The Luminous Envelope responds to a similar disconnect, this time between the ‘purity’ of mathematical equations and an attempt to make them tangible through physical model-making in plaster of Paris. In both cases, models (whether made of pixels or plaster) emerge as useful, but imperfect, representations.

Foreign Soil was developed with support from Exeter University’s Creative Exchange programme. The Luminous Envelope was commissioned by Metron in collaboration with Oxford University Mathematical Institute.